Several statistical theories of the transport of a passive scalar quan
tity make use of a Green's function and statistical properties of the
fluid velocity field. The theories are applied to the problems of mean
gradient transport in a turbulent fluid and of turbulent transport to
a wall or a fluid interface. For the case of mass transfer by a unifo
rm mean concentration gradient in homogeneous turbulence, a weak mixin
g hypothesis leads to results similar to those of Kraichnan's direct i
nteraction approximation (DIA). Further use of a smoothing hypothesis
leads to an algebraic expression for the eddy diffusivity which compar
es well with the DIA and with laboratory experiments.